As we do every year, we brought Veronica to the fair. Her favorite, every year, is feeding the goats.<\/p>\n
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The Los Angeles County fair has a big pen full of goats of varying sizes, most of whom are interested in the little cups of feed they sell for $3. The goats and sheep, with the occasional alpaca, will bump up to demand their share of the feed pellets.<\/p>\n
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Yes, they smell like animals. The barn smells worse. I take her around to see the funny chickens, rabbits, pigs, and what-have-you on display.<\/p>\n
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I remember my times at the fair. The Alaska state fair, where I spent my early teen years taking care of different animals.<\/p>\n
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We were part of 4-H. It started with rabbits, and then moved on to pigs and calves. The apex of 4-H life was the fair. When we were exhibiting, and we exhibited every year, we had to go to the fair every day for a week to take care of our animals. Feed and water them, sure, but also wash and groom so that they showed well. They were judged.<\/p>\n
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Some of the 4-H kids would enter other things in the fair. Baking or sewing was easier; you didn’t have to stick around to take care of those. There were arts and crafts too.<\/p>\n
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Not just for kids. Grownups joined in the contests too.<\/p>\n
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The county fair was sparse this year. From what I can tell, 4-H doesn’t really do animals and crafts like they used to. It’s moved on to “lifelong learning.”<\/p>\n
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The supporting institution, the Extension Service, isn’t even a thing anymore. It’s combined and repurposed into something else altogether.<\/p>\n
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4-H started out as a way of empowering kids to learn something even their parents didn’t know. How to grow plants and livestock even better. And the county fairs were about letting regular people have a chance to show off, to work for and achieve recognition.<\/p>\n
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Communities have set aside these places, fairgrounds and competitions. We have formally valued them as our traditions, like Christmas or 4th of July.<\/p>\n
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It’s eroding. I’m sad to see how the fair has shrunk from year to year, even as the prices have gone up.<\/p>\n
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I wonder whether our daughter will have the tradition to share with her children. No doubt it will be very different then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we do every year, we brought Veronica to the fair. Her favorite, every year, is feeding the goats. The Los Angeles County fair has a big pen full of goats of varying sizes, most of whom are interested … Continue reading